Could Jolla drop Beta sign with Sailfish OS 1.0.3.8 Naamankajarvi

Sailfish Naamankajärvi 1.0.3.8 

Install: Settings --> About product --> pulley menu, check for updates. WLAN recommended.

System update in short

This is the third larger update for Sailfish, released 31-Jan-2014. Jolla has suprised their users with featuring a possibility to unlock the bootloader (OEM lock release), better landscape usability (now in: camera, gallery, browser), better battery life (NFC bug fix), calendar improvements and much more.

As the NFC bug will be fixed with this update, you can remove the temporary masking with this detailed guide. Masking can be safely removed either before or after installing the update.

Top10 picks from the update (full changelog - together.jolla.com)

• OpenSource improvement: Possibility to unlock the bootloader (under new recovery menu)
• Battery life: NFC bug fix for better battery life 
• Browser: Landscape mode in browsing, keyboard, gestures, app cover
• Camera: Zoom with pinch gesture. Full 2Mpx resolution into use with the front facing camera
• Calendar: Option to select calendar when creating an event + location of event
• Store: Android apps are now identified easier with included icon
• Phone: Option in the Phone settings to disable quick call from logs. When disabled, tapping on the call log entry will open the corresponding contact card
• User experience: After screen time out, return to last active app (within 30 sec)
• TOH connection: Ambience changes only if the TOH ambience is set as a favourite, or the first time The Other Half is connected to the phone.
• Android: Improved access to phone sensors (all 5). Improved memory handling when running low on memory. SMS support in runtime envorinment (Android apps are not able to read or send any SMS, but they can now open the native Sailfish messaging app)
• Several more updates and bug fixes, see all in the full changelog

Known issues not yet fixed on this release

• 4G/LTE connection. Official statement: LTE supporten countries and operators will be published later.
• Camera support for more Android apps (still not working in Facebook, Twitter)
• Navigation feature for Jolla's HERE Maps. No news about development. Several Android navigation apps are reported to work, some better, some worse.
• Google's default calendar, contacts & events are only synched from internet to the phone - not the other way around. Adding or editing Google calendar events in the phone is useless.

Problems reported after updating the system

• Searh link, tag "bug" & word "1.0.3.8", Jolla Together community portal

Upcoming Sailfish update releases

• Jolla has stated that updates are planned to be realeased monthly

Previous updates

• Sailfish 1.0.2.5 Maadajavri
• Sailfish 1.0.1.10 Laadunjärvi

Sailfish Naamankajärvi ?

Another update named by a lake. There are at least 4 lakes named "Naamankajärvi" in Finland, located at Pudasjärvi, Kuusamo, Suomussalmi and Oulu. All of them are quite small, the biggest one laying at Kuusamo, 7 565 km2.

Jolla has stated that they are using lakes of Finland in naming updates of Sailfish OS. There are 187 888 lakes in Finland, including the small ones, so we might have more than few updates coming. Looking at the size of the biggest Naamankajärvi, we could speculate that this is not as big update than the previous one - but I'm still holding my breath for Sailfish Saimaa!


Show a larger map

Jolla battery life power consumption problems

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Update (31-Jan-2014)

Great news - Installing Sailfish 1.0.3.8. Naamankajärvi fixes the NFC bug. For those who did the mask-workaround for better battery life: Jolla has confirmed that tohd.service can be left masked while updating system. This means that you can remove the mask either before installing the update or afterwards. Personally I'm leaving it on at this point, as I have no use for TOH connection yet. To enable the connection with your Other Half again (removing the workaround), here's a detailed HowTo

Sailfish 1.0.3.8 also changes the way of The Other Half connection. When attaching TOH, the ambience changes only if it's marked as a favourite, or in the first time when TOH is connected.

Original article 22-Dec-2013

After 90 reports posted with User Report Tool,  and 10 more received directly from friends, I've managed to estimate some power consumptions of most elements in Jolla. A big THANKS for everyone in the community for using the report tool - this would have been a slow (or impossible) project without your help.

In general Jolla's hardware parts have a reasonable power consumption, especially those in the Qualcomm chip (processor, connectivity, graphics, memory handling). The main problem is Jolla's NFC connection with The Other Half - that's quite a power sucker, considering it seems to be on all the time. It actually seems to reduce Jolla's standby hours from max 500h to poor 48h. Removing The Other Half, or the white chip inside it (Update, see comments) fixes the problem. We don't want to do that! Unfortunately there's no setting for turning the NFC off, but maybe after this article Jolla start to work to offer us one. NFC connection sucks the battery about 2% per hour.

As usual in modern smartphones, the screen is the biggest power sucker, also in Jolla. Jolla's IPS LCD screen is worse than some OLED screens used in other models, sucking the battery 5% - 10% per hour. Recommended to use dark tone ambiences and as low screen brightness as reasonable.

Then comes the graphic chip, processor and data transfer - but as already said, Qualcomm has actually done a very good job with these in their Snapdragon 400 chip which Jolla is using. Anyway they matter, so if you really want to see the percentages drown, try playing a powerful online 3D game with full screen brightness.

Below, power consumption in different cases is listed as percentage/hour & the usability time

Jolla's battery life in varying scenarios

• Screen OFF, all connections (including mobile network) OFF, The Other Half removed:
  consumption 0,2% per hour, max 500h standby time
• Screen OFF, all connections (including mobile network) OFF, The Other Half attached:
  consumption 1,7-2,5% per hour, average 48h standby time
• Screen OFF, mobile network ON, other connections and accounts off
  consumption 1,7-2,8% per hour, average 43h standby time
• Screen OFF, mobile network ON, WLAN ON, some accounts synching data
  consumption 2,4-4,6% per hour, average 30h standby time
  (depends a lot of the amounts of data transfered)
• Phone in normal use, including some screen using, phone calls, data transfer
  consumption 3,6-14,3% per hour, variance 7-28h usability time
  (normal use varies a lot, as you can guess)
• Phone in continuous use, screen staying ON at low brigtness
  consumption 5,9-14,3% per hour, variance 7-17h usability time
  (unfortunately, the reports didn't include what kind of screen use (video/3D gaming/static img)
• Phone in continuous use, screen staying ON at high brigtness
  consumption 10,0-30,5% per hour, variance 3-10h usability time
  (lowest usability time reported playing Angry Birds)

The effect of NFC connection with The Other Half 

Above, the 4th dot is maybe the best to describe the normal standby hours of Jolla, so let's calculate some more with that. NFC itself, when in use, eats the battery with a speed of 2% per hour. Using this value we can calculate that the stanby time of 30h mentioned above, or 20-40h variance of it, would rise to 38-250h when removing The Other Half.

To confirm this result

This result is based on only 4 tests where The Other Half was removed, two of them done myself. At the very moment I'm running my third test with even SIM card removed, and after 13h my battery shows 98%. Anyway, for even more reliable confirmation, I've added the selection to the last page of User Report Tool. Now I wish that many of you will reports new test results with The Other Half removed. To people who have already sent reports: It would be ideal to repeat the test with exactly the same other settings (please mention this in comments when posting).

Thanks to the community

As mentioned, this finding wasn't possible without the great community work of several Jolla owners. Special thanks to jollatides.com & jollasuomi.fi for sharing the User Report Tool for their readers.

Forwarding the information

I've sent a link to this article and to the user reports data to Jolla customer care. Answers will be commented to here, if I get one and if it's ok for them - maybe they will also confirm the problem.

In the end, I hope our great community work, multiple user reports and this article will help the whole community to have, in time, even a better phone. We are Unlike! Thanks once again!

UPDATE, Picked up from comments: Two possible workarounds (Software solution and Hardware solution) until Jolla comes up with a Sailfish hotfix

A) Software Solution with developing tools 

(Please check Important below before you start )

1. Go to Settings -> Developer Mode
2. Enable developer mode. Enable SSH connection.
3. Enter or generate a new password after SSH. Remember it and Save.
4. Reboot the phone, open Terminal (Terminal becomes a visible app after enabling developer mode)
5. In the terminal, write the bolded commands exactly as here and press enter after each row:
   
   devel-su
   (your password) <- note: password is written invisible (you don't see your input). When your password is accepted, $ mark changes to #, telling you that you're in developer superuser mode. Go on with:
   systemctl mask tohd.service
   systemctl stop tohd.service
   exit
   exit
   With the first exit you leave the developer superuser mode (# changes back to $). Second exit closes the whole terminal, and everything is done. Your phone will not establish connection to The Other Half any more, not even after reboot, and your idle battery use is 10% of what it used to be. (If you want your phone to connect TOH after reboot, leave the row with word "mask" unwritten)
6. To enable connection again and return everythihg as it was, open terminal and write:
   
   devel-su
   (your password) <- note: password is written invisible (you don't see your input)
   systemctl unmask tohd.service
   systemctl start tohd.service
   exit
   exit
7. Extra: In any time you can check the status of your connection to The Other Half. You can do it either in devel-su mode (#) or in basic mode ($) with this command:
   
   systemctl status tohd.service
   
   Important: Playing with developer mode might affect to your phone's warrantly. These commands are tested by several users and they don't seem to break anything, but writing something else might - so please doublecheck every letter before pressing enter. Everything you enter in the developer mode is in your own responsibility. If unsure, use the HW solution written below (after terminal images)
   
   Note: There has been some testing going on with disable / enable commands also. They might work, even as good, and they can be tested as well. However I would recommend the masking procedure above, as otherwise the system is left a change to enable connection later for other reasons (if there are any, I don't know), or the system halts in cases where it excepts that tohd isn't disabled. Commands instructed above (5) should give a working, permanent solution, which will last until commands (6) is given.

Image 1, Jolla terminal: TOHD checking, masking, stopping and checking again. Note one typo in "service". Note also that the exit written only exits the devel-su mode (# -> $). Second exit entered would close the app. Click twice for full size img.

Image 2, Jolla terminal after REBOOT: checking, failing to start (in testing purpose) and finally starting TOHD.

B) Hardware solution with foil

1. Reboot your phone without The Other Half. (For testing in the end: Change your ambience)
2. Cover the NFC chip with a suitable piece of tin foil.(3 layers is found to be enough)
3. Attach The Other Half. (To be sure the tin foil is in place, your ambience shouldn't change now.)

Both of these solutions fixes the battery drain problem (tested). I recommend the upper, but if writing to a Sailfish terminal scares you a bit, just go with the HW solution. It should work as well, if there's enough foil. You might also just wait for a while, as reading the comment below written by Harri Hakulinen (Chief engineer at Jolla) we can guess that the hotfix won't take forever. Isn't it just great how Jolla community and Jolla the company can do things faster together? Now let's give them and ourselves a well earned Christmas holidays, and let's be patient while waiting for the Sailfish update fixing the problem.

LG Optimus Dynamic II Tracfone Smartphone

News for the LG Optimus Dynamic 2 - LG L39C

The LG Optimus Dynamic 2

Tracfone recently released four Android smartphones for use on their wireless prepaid network and one of the phones was the LG Optimus Dynamic. (click for our review)

Unfortunately many people were underwhelmed at the lack of features, and the older 2.3 Android operating system.

But Tracfone has now released the LG Optimus Dynamic II - an upgraded and more powerful version of the first. We started to hear rumors about the possibility of another Tracfone Android, but now we have found confirmation through multiple sources.

NOTE: Check out our Full LG Optimus Dynamic II Review now!

The Dynamic 2 comes with Android 4.1, the latest of any Tracfone smartphones, and boasts other great features like a 3 mega pixel camera, and 3.8 inch touch screen. The touchscreen on the Dynamic II is bigger than any of the other smartphones offered by Tracfone.

You can find the LG Optimus Dynamic II on Amazon and several other online retailers, but we haven't found it available directly through Tracfone yet.

We will be completing a full review of the Dynamic II in the near future, until then you can check out the LG Optimus Dynamic 2 User Guide.

Or you might find the Dynamic 2 (LG L39C) online tutorial useful for learning more about this phone.

What to Expect from the LG Optimus Dynamic II

At this point there is little information about how good the phone really is, but based on the specs and features, it seems like it could be a contender for Best Tracfone Cell Phone.

The Dynamic 2 comes with all the features one would expect on an Android Smartphone, like WiFi, GPS, gravity sensor, mp3 player. hands-free speaker, and even 3 home screens.

The size of the phone is pretty normal for a smartphone, at 4.43" x 2.55" x 0.47" and weighing in at 4.5 OZ.

Battery life seems like it will be a little better than Tracfone's other smartphone offerings, with talk time of up to 8 hours reported, and standby of 11 days.

One of the best features of the Dynamic 2 is price, it appears to be priced less than or around the same price as the Samsung Galaxy Centura.

We found the LG Optimus Dynamic 2 on Amazon for $99, but we haven't been able to find it on the Tracfone website yet. It has also been seen on some other retail websites, and even in some stores.

We will be doing a full review of the Dynamic 2 once we gather the information, until then, leave a comment below with your thoughts or questions.

If you're looking for Android phones with Tracfone, read some of our other smartphone reviews, including the ZTE Valet and Huawei Glory.

Ambience background design

This post is for helping people in designing their own ambience backgrounds for Jolla. Knowing how Sailfish OS handles images or photos when turning them into an ambience might give you some advantage to create the most beautiful backgrounds.

While scrolling from screen to another, first thing to note is that the lower you go, the more Jolla cloaks the image - ending up with 100% cloaking in the 2nd launcher screen. Cloak is a partially transparent layer on top of your image, colored with the same tone as the text color which Jolla chooses from the image (see using greyscale images).

Second, let's take a look at the pixel limits for each element and screen. Ideal size for a background image is 540x1600px to take the full advantage of the partial scrolling of the background. In this guideline, top is considered as y = 0 and the pixels mentioned are counted from the top.

Pulley menu header, sized 540x113px, is visible only when the pulley menu on top is opened. If using e.g. a logo on this area, note that the first selection "Settings" is partially inside this area. When using a logo in center, leave it above 100px.


Lock screen image begins right after the header, showing area from y=114 to y=1073 (height 960px). The upper part of the lock screen area is also used as a background for the pulley menu (from y=0 to y=430). The lower part is shared with the home screen. Area not visible on the home screen begins from y=114 and ends to y=353 (height 240px)


Home screen image, y=354 to y=1313 (height 960px) is already cloaked strongly. Image is quite dark and toned with the text color, hiding any colourful details. The opposite colous (compared to the text colour) turns into grey.


Home screen image bottom, from y=1074 to y=1313 (height 240px) is not shared with the lock screen. There, if you want to design a backround for your favourite apps, you can top it between y=1150 (right below the covers) and y=1184 (right above the app icons). It looks good in the middle, setting favourite apps background from y=1167 to y=1313 (height 147px)


The 1st launcher screen background is so strongly cloaked that it doen't matter much in designing. Leaving it totally white tones it with your text color, barely visible (better visible with high screen brigtness). With white, 1/3 of your launcer background bottom differs from 2/3 on top which is cloaked from your home screen image. Area visible only on the 1st launcher screen is from y=1314 to y=1600 (using one launcher), or from y=1314 to y=1457 (using two launcher screens). 2nd or further launcher screen are cloaked 100%.

Some suggestion based on these measurements:

• Use a header, sized 540x113px. It's nice to have a hidden element, only visible when opening the pulley menu
• Share a photo among rest of the screens, sized 540x1200px. The top of the photo works as a pulley menu background, the bottom is visible only in your home screen, the last 140px beeing left behind your favourite apps.
• Use a simple, bright coloured square for the rest, sized 540x287px. With this square use can try to affect to your desired text colour (however if your photo is already colourful, Jolla might choose a color from that anyway).

Download the image of this post to help you in design

Image above has a full size of 540x1600px. You can freely use it - click it twice to open it in full size, save it to your computer and use it as a background on your image manipulation program. You can also see how it looks like as an ambience background on your Jolla to see the measurements in action.

Share your Ambience designs or find great ambiences to your Jolla

You can already find a lot of great backgrounds, all in the right size (540x1600px). So far there are mostly pure images (without header/other special designs), but I hope we'll see some full designs soon too.

• If you have a dropbox account, you can upload your designs here.  
• Lot is shared also at JollaWalls, service was opened Nov-2013
• KiriKrush (twitter link) has been very active with his flickr album

Jolla Ambience / background articles elsewhere

• JollaUsers, another great blog, has shared a similar article earlier
  (with much better images but with some less mathematics)
• Discussion around ambiences at Jolla Together
• (comment with your link, I'm happy to add more)

SailfishOS Ported to Nexus 4

One of the most touching videos I've seen as a fan. SailfishOS is an operating system developed by Jolla. It's spreading to other smartphone models by experienced users, latest beeing Nexus 4. (Earlier seen on Nokia N9 & Nexus 7).

Great video of installing and starting the new operating system by sledges (Youtube link)

The story of Sailfish is just in the beginning - I wonder what will be the next conquer?

Nexus 4

Jolla: GPS Navigation (updated: bug located)

Update 2:  Navfree above version 2.1.14 doesn't get GPS connection.

Recommended not to update above this version (2.1.14), which seems to be the latest working one.

Update: Location data bug located - I call it a GPS Velocity Bug

User have been wondering why several Android Navigation Apps running on Jolla shows the car location at closeby roads and crossings, or shows you driving sideways / backwards. I've been observing this behaviour the best I can, and by that I'm pretty sure that there is a bug in the velocity data calculation, calculated from the gps data.

Jolla uses OpenSource code Geoclue, originally contributed by Garwin, for location data handling. This code should provide all the needed data very well, so the problem is within Qt or Sailfish code. My findings are based on observations only, so I can only share some possible options for the type of this bug. Either:

•  Location is shown in the Navi app before the direction calculation is done. In this case, the Navi App would assume the direction sometimes as 0 (pointing to North)
• Direction is calculated with inaccurate data. It should be calculated from the last two readings provided by gps, and if either of these readings is occasionally missing or old, the direction could show anything (e.g. making the Navi app to circle the map)
• Direction data is not calculated at all. In this case the Navi app might show it as north all the time. 

In a modern smartphone there are three ways to determine the phone current direction: (1) Directly from the magnetometer data, (2) calculated from that and the accelerometer data, or (3) calculated from two data readings received from GPS. Navi apps are using this method.

Some Navi apps are able to use compass (Magnetometer sensor) as a supportive reading for the direction (e.g. when gps data is missing). Jolla's compass should work fine, but it's currently providing data to only some of the Android apps. (This is another known bug already under work. I'm expecting it to be fixed after Qt 5.3. release). However, this is not related to the velocity bug.

We are also looking forward for a native Navi application for Jolla phones, but it's not expected to be released yet in the next update. I'm not expecting a fix to the velocity bug either unless it's very small, as it was just discovered (well, I suppose some coders have noted this earlier)

Original article 12-Dec-2013

While waiting for updates to HERE Maps features, here's a simple HowTo for installing GPS Navigation to your Jolla smartphone. Voice navigation included, tested to work myself.

INSTALLING

1. Register a Jolla account (needed to access Jolla store in the phone)
2. Open Jolla store and install Android Support (close the store)
3. Open your phone browser, go to address m.aptoide.com/installer.* Install Aptoide store (close browser)
4. Open Aptoide store and search Navfree. Install the application (close the store)
5. Open Navfree, follow the instructions and load your countrymap into the phone. WLAN recommended - e.g. road map files for Finland were 180Mb
   
   *Note: I made a typo (missing e) in the store installing address before. Corrected now.

USAGE

1. Enable Location in your Jolla settings
2. Start the app, wait for GPS lock and on to the road.

TEST NOTES

1. User inteface works perfectly. Navfree has a nice set of settings.
2. Supports voice navigation, POI's, speed cameras, speed limits (in selected countries) etc.
3. Full offline support. To navigate, no connection or SIM card needed. 
4. Sound (finnish tested) was loud and clear, instructions ok too. No need to use with max volume.
5. In my first time, driving was shown in reverse on the map. Restarting the phone fixed this.
6. If you navigate without internet connection, the phone might ask for it. This doesn't prevent the navigation app to talk, but the question screen hides the map. Tap to clear, but it appears again.
7. You can drop the app to your home screen (swipe from left/right). Voice navigation keeps on running, but the map doesn't update in the active cover screen. Tapping the active cover opens the app and updates the map again.
8. Landscape mode works well, even when dropping the app to home screen.
9. If you close your screen yourself (swipe from up), navigation stops talking. I haven't tested if it stops talking when the screen is closed automatically.
10. Navfree offers free map update download 4 times a year

Coming up...

My next app related blog post will reveal how to enable Adobe Flash Player on Jolla, with no special tricks needed. Comments are welcome, if you have wishes for the one after that. Thanks for your visit.

Jolla community - together.jolla.com - A peek in after a month

together.jolla.com is a portal between Jolla's customers, app developers and the sailors working at Jolla. It was taken into use at 12-Dec-2013, and after a month in use Jolla phone owners have found it as a welcome and a well used service. More than 2500 questions are posted, and more than 1500 of them have at least one answer. Adding all the answers and comments there are more than 16 000 posts so far.

Jolla has developed the portal further by adding a Jolla logo to all the members working at Jolla, and currently they are welcoming some more moderators from the user side. Users have done their best avoiding duplicate posts and tags, but as there are many of us, there's some cleaning to do all the time. We're doing it together, and in my overall experience the portal is working somewhat great, but it can always get better.

Most important issues (TOP10, lifted up by the users) in the beginning have been:

1. Differentiate native SailfishOS and Android apps in Jolla store
2. Landscape mode in keyboard, gestures, browser and messages
3. Support for CalDav-based calendars (e.g. Google Calendar)
4. Offline turn by turn navigation in Maps
5. mms - multimedia message [closed]
6. After screen time out, return to last active app
7. Folder support in app launcher
8. Add possibility to configure what is shown on the lock screen
9. Cover-action on settings app
10. WiFi tethering [closed]

Jolla is responding to their users wishes, and most of the requests above (and many others) are already roadmapped by Jolla. A 'roadmap' tag is added to the questions by Jolla after they have taken the issue under development. Only 3 of the top10 questions are still waiting for a solution:

• #4 (Jolla's answer: We're thinking about it)
• #8 (Jolla's answer: Good explanation why it is the way it is, but still looking into this)
• #9 (Jolla's answer actually seems like it's roadmapped, but for some reason it isn't)

If you have a Jolla phone but you haven't joined this portal yet, I recommend doing so. Not only to get your questions answered (either by Jolla or other users), but also to be in the heart of this unlike community. We Do It Together (DIT) and we welcome everybody along.

HowTo: Jolla and DLNA media sharing

Basics of DLNA

DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) is often wrongly understood as a streaming format, actually it's a non-profit trade organization founded by Sony (2003). DLNA supporting devices, apps and programs are using Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) for media management, discovery and control.

A device/program/app supporting DLNA can include a media server, a media player, or both of these. Media is streamed from the server to the player usually via WLAN network on which both the server and the player are connected to. Several servers and players can be included into the same network.

1. Stream from Jolla to your DLNA players

I've managed in this using Android App "Smart TV WiFi Remote + DLNA". It's a free app, no accounts needed either, and it works perfectly on Jolla too. Here's the Installation guide:

• pre-requisites: DLNA supporting WLAN router (most of them do). Jolla phone and your media player must be connected to the same WLAN network.
• system-requirements: Samsung or LG television or Blueray player, or any DLNA capable media Player on your computer (I'm using a free program "Samsung All Share" on win7)

1. Install Smart TV WiFi Remote + DLNA to your Jolla. I found it at Aptoide store as a trusted app. (Guide for installing Aptoide store can be found on a previous article)
2. Start the app, select "DLNA" and select your desired folders to share. The app has access to both your Android and Sailfish folders, showing them as one type.
3. After selecting, you can drop the app to your home screen and use your Jolla normally. Media sharing to your network stays on as long the app is running.
4. Connect to your Jolla with your DLNA capable player. If Jolla is not found automatic, check your Jolla's local network IP (usually 192.168.X.X) from the phone or from your router and connect to it manually.
5. After the player connects to Jolla's shared folders, you can just browse them and play the content (images, music, videos) of your player supported formats.

2. Using Jolla as a remote control
 (possible at the same time when streaming media from Jolla)

As the DLNA Server on Jolla can be left running, you can use another Android App on Jolla at the same time, remote controlling your DLNA Player. There are several remote control apps available for several TV/Blueray/DLNA players, just check the Aptoide store for your model. I'm using Samsung BD-5500 as the player, so I installed app "Samsung Remote" to my Jolla. In this photo I'm streaming a video saved to my Jolla, watching it from my TV and remoting the playback with Jolla:

3. Stream to Jolla from Plex media server

There are propably also other DLNA capable player apps which Jolla supports, but as I already wrote a review using Plex media server for this, here's an installation Guide for Plex:

• pre-requisites: WLAN router on your computer. Jolla connected to the same WLAN network.
• system-requirements: See the Install link below for supported operating systems.
  Plex is widely supported

1. Install Plex to your computer. When using beta version 0.9.8, Plex account is not necessary, just pass it when asked and select the folders you want to share. With Plex you can share images, music, videos and movies to your home WLAN network.
2. Install Plex version 3.2.4.87 to your Jolla phone. I found it available at Aptoide store malow.store.aptoide.com (add the store with writing this address at Aptoide) and 16 other stores. Note: This application has not been checked as trusted.
3. Start the server on your computer. It's running only as an icon near the clock, and the settings are accessed via a web browser.
4. On your Sailfish app launcer you only see an empty icon with the text "com", but you can start the app with tapping that. The icon is visible if you're using an Android launcer like GO Launcher EX
5. Your media server should be located automatic by Jolla. If not, check your media server IP from the computer and set it up manually. After that you can browse and play your shared content on Jolla's screen. Plex transcodes the stream (if needed) on the server before sending it to your Jolla, so multiple video formats are possible.

4. Remote controlling Plex player on Jolla with another phone

While streaming media into Jolla, you can download a remote control for Plex to another mobile phone and control Jolla's playback from that. I succeeded in this installing an app called "Plex remote" to my old Android phone.

webCat, Sailfish browser for Jolla Smartphone supporting landscape

Leszek Lesner has coded an alternative webCat browser for Jolla. It's a native SailfishOS browser, and it's available for download either at github, openrepos or at Jolla Store. I downloaded it from Jolla Store, and here's a review to version 0.8.3. Let's begin with a video by Leszek:

Features

• Landscape support
• Tabbing support (real without reloading of tabs)
• Bookmark support
• Setting browser user agent
• Setting default font sizes
• Opening up links in new tab (by long press and hold on link)
• Copy links (by long press and hold on link)
• Open rtsp, rtmp and mms links with external viewer (e.g. LLs VideoPlayer)
• Setting DNS Prefetch
• Setting Offline WebApplication Cache
• Manually add bookmark with specific user agent
• Fast scroll to top or bottom of page

Review

The settings: First image is from the pulley menu, from where the settings can be found. Second image shows another pulley menu inside the settings.

Images below show all available settings. The most interesting one is the possibility to change the user agent. User agent is a line of text sent to the server, by that the server selects the content and layout which is sent back to the browser screen. webCat browser can act as an Sailfish, Android, Nokia, Firefox, IE, Opera, Blackberry, NTT Docomo or any custom browser you select. This feature enables e.g. accessing mobile or desktop view of the page.

Last image above shows the bookmarks. Some are there already, selected by the coder (thanks for including Review Jolla), and more can be saved by the user. Bookmarks can't be edited, but they can be removed with a hold gesture, and new ones are saved either via settings (including the wanted user agent) or via the browser window:

These two images shows an example of using google map directions with webCat. On the left, a screenshot of the map, and on the right, screenshot from the list of directions while scrolling it up. While scrolling, a tap button to quicky reach the top of the page appears to the top right corner. Another tap button appears when scrolling down, likewise to reach the end of the page.


On the footer bar you can see a button for entering tabs/bookmarks, a back button, the url where you currently are, and a star to add the page as a bookmark/favourite.


Tap on the url brings up the virtual keyboard, from where you can also refresh the page.


Tap on any free (linkless) spot on the page minimizes the footer bar to a very small one, right to the edge of your screen. Bringing it back requires some good aiming. You can barely see the footer on the image on the right.


When the tap hits the footer, sometimes you still see it as minimized above the keyboard. It should be tapped again to bring it to its normal size.


Entering youtube brings me up to the only bug I found. At least the version downloaded from the Store can't play videos. Not in youtube, not in html5. Some user agents were able to show the cover image of a video and play the sound. On the Leszek's video introduction, however, we can see a youtube video running nicely - so there's probably a fixable issue conserning the store. Looking forward for an update.

The most wanted feature for the original Jolla browser has been the landscape support. In webCat, landscape is fully supported, as you can see in the first image of this article (browsing jolla.com)

Best Tracfone Cell Phone

Top 5 Tracfone Prepaid Cell Phones 

Everyone wants to know, what is the best Tracfone device? Which cell phones are the best options from Tracfone? We provide for you here the 2014 list of Best Tracfone Cell Phones.

List of the Best Cell Phones from Tracfone - photo credit: ario_

As you might expect, this list is dominated by the newly released Android powered smartphones. But which one will receive the top pick? This is almost the best android Tracfone list, but we included some other phones. See the list below!

We are judging this list of the best cell phones based primarily on features, specifications, and performance as well as feedback from customers.

We will provide a short description of each phone in the list, and a link to our full review if you would like to learn more about a particular phone.

List of the Best Cell Phones from Tracfone

The list will contain our five top picks, starting off with number five:

#5 Best Tracfone - LG 840G

This phone comes in at the fifth spot for its wide popularity, low cost, and good features. The LG 840G has been available for consumers to purchase and use with Tracfone for over a year. It offers several great features that help get it onto this list, including Triple Minutes for Life, WiFi, Touchscreen and 3G speeds.

The LG 840G does lack the ability to access Android apps, because the phone uses a proprietary java operating system. You can still use some apps, like Google Maps, but it is not as easy as an Android phone. View our complete review of the LG 840G to learn more about this phone.

The LG 840G is a solid phone with great value for the money. And with prices for this phone as low as $30 on Amazon, it is a great bargain.

#4 Best Tracfone - LG Optimus Dynamic

LG Optimus Dynamic

The LG Optimus Dynamic arrives at fourth on this list of the top Tracfone cell phones. It is actually pretty similar to the LG 840G (which isn't surprising since they are both made by LG) but with one major exception - Android OS.

With the Android operating system, it is possibly for you to access thousands of different apps through Google Play and use them on this phone.

The LG Optimus Dynamic also comes with WiFi, 3G speeds and a free 4GB Micro SD card. Read our review of the LG Optimus Dynamic to get all the details on this phone.

This phone does have a much older version of Android than any of the other smartphones from Tracfone. It uses Android 2.3 and some have reported it as being a little slower than preferred.

But the Optimus is the cheapest option between the other Android Tracfone's, at under $50 on Amazon. And there is also a version of the phone offered in white for those who might prefer it.

On a side note, we have received information that there will be a LG Optimus Dynamic II coming to Tracfone in the near future with better specs and performance, so be on the lookout for that!

#3 Best Tracfone - Samsung Galaxy Centura

Samsung Galaxy Centura

The Samsung Galaxy Centura comes in third by just barely being beat out by the top two. With these top three Android phones, they all offer great features and value, but they have small differences that separate them.

The Galaxy Centura offers all the features you expect from an Android Tracfone - WiFi, Triple Minutes for Life, MP3 player, 3 MP camera and more (read our Review of the Samsung Galaxy Centura for all the specs ad features).

But what puts it in third and not second or first are two main points: First, the Galacy Centura uses Android 4.0 OS, while the ZTE Valet has a slightly newer operating system. Second, the Samsung has a slightly slower processor compared to the ZTE Valet and Huawei Glory.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Centura is a great phone, which is why it ranks third in our best Android smartphones from Tracfone list. View the Centura on Amazon at $30 less than retail price.

#2 Best Tracfone - ZTE Valet

ZTE Valet

The ZTE Valet reaches number two on our top Android smartphone list with powerful specs, great features and widespread popularity.

The Valet comes with Android 4.1 OS and all the other features you expect from Tracfone like Triple Minutes for Life, WiFi, and GPS. The Valet also comes with a 4 GB Micro SD card, adding to the value of this phone. You can learn all about the ZTE Valet by reading our review.

What keeps this smartphone from the top spot are the reports we've heard from users that the WiFi can be weak at times, and no where near as strong as some would like. This might be a problem with just some phones, but it does keep the Valet from our top spot.

Price-wise, the ZTE Valet is a great buy. We have found it on Amazon for under $80, and many places like eBay, Amazon and HSN sell it with a minutes bundle. The ZTE Valet and Samsung Galaxy Centura are both great phones, and have been the two most popular Android smartphones that Tracfone has released. But we believe the best android smartphone is the one below.

#1 Best Tracfone - Huawei Glory

Huawei Glory

The Huawei Glory is TracfoneReviewer's pick for the best Tracfone cell phone, and best Android Tracfone smartphone, for its' features, performance, specs and overall design.

The Glory is very similar to the ZTE Valet, with features like a 1 Ghz processor, Android 4.0 OS, GPS, 3 MP camera, WiFi and Triple Minutes for Life. But the Glory also has some features the Valet doesn't, like an FM radio.

But what really lead to the Huawei Glory grabbing the top spot is the quality users report of the WiFi signal strength. This was one of the only downsides to the Valet, and the Glory succeeds in this area. Read our complete Huawei Glory review to learn more about this phone.

In the end, all four of the Android powered smartphones Tracfone released offer great features and huge potential. It really comes down to which features you find are most important to have, and which phone you like the most. And don't forget that you can now bring your own phone to Tracfone! Read our post on this exciting Tracfone Android news to learn more.

We hope you found this article useful, leave a comment with your pick for the best Tracfone device. Also be sure to share this with your friends.

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We also want to share a quick heads up, we have learned that Tracfone is releasing the LG Optimus Dynamic II (LG L39). So be on the lookout for that! More information to come.

For more on the cell phones offered by Tracfone, visit our Cell Phones Review page.

Also don't forget about our most popular page, the Tracfone Promo Codes! or you can see just the codes updated for January 2014!

Jolla streaming video with Plex media server

Jolla as a remote for Samsung Blueray player

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1. Overview

Plex media server works perfectly on Jolla Smartphone. Here's a review to streaming media from computer to Jolla's screen, use Jolla as a remote control, and use another phone as a remote control for Jolla's Plex player. Everything introduced in this article have been fully tested to work. Installing guide is not included. In this review we:

• stream videos from Plex media server to Jolla smartphone over WiFi
• check  if Jolla works as a media server, sending content to other players in the same network
• use Jolla as a remote control for a Samsung Blueray player
• use Jolla as a Plex Player and another phone as aa remote control for Jolla

2. Plex supported devices

Plex software includes a backend media server (Propiertary sSoftware) and a frontend media player (OpenSource, based on XBMC player). Plex software (before version 1.0) can be installed for free on

• Windows (XP with Service Pack 3 or later)
• Mac (OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or later)
• Linux (Ubuntu 10.04->, Fedora 14->, CentOS 6->)
• FreeBSD 9.1
• NAS (Synology, Netgear, QNAP, unRAID, Drobo, Asustor). With some limitations.
• Mobile devices: Android (inc. Jolla), iOs, Windows Phone 8
• TV's & Blueray players (Roku, Google TV, Samsung)
• Chromecast supporting devices (this is not free. Requires Plex Pass)

From November 2013 Plex introduced version 1.0: Plex Home Theater. Latest version is available for computers running on Windows (Vista or later) and Mac (Snow Leopard or later).

3. Plex on Jolla

Version 0.9.8 works on Jolla, via Android Support, both as a player (no Plex Pass or account required) and as a media server (to use, account and paid Plex Pass required). Without Plex Pass Jolla is capable to play any streaming media supported by the device (e.g. H.264 video format). Media server can transcode most video streams, audio streams and subtitles to supported formats in desired quality. Plex Media Server including the media must locate on the same network with Jolla (e.g. same WLAN)

4. Plex player on Jolla - Photo Review

Plex on Jolla. View to the content of the Media Server

In my setup, I have installed Plex Media Server on my Win7 computer and on Jolla Smartphone.

Plex on Jolla. Watching a BBC document in 720p quality

Additionally Plex Player is installed to my Samsung Blueray player (HT-D5500) and a remote control for that is installed to my Jolla. Here's a view to the remote control, each function works great on Jolla:

Even more, I've installed a 3rd party remote control for Plex Player to another smartphone, so I'm able to control my Jolla from that. Maybe this doesn't seem too important, but it was required to fix the player screen size on Jolla:

Screen overscan wizard is located on the Player Settings, and a remote control was required to adjust the screen. Using the touchpad of another smartphone (ZTE) I was able to adjust Jolla's screen for full use with the player. Some other settings on Jolla are shown below:

As you can see on the right image above, it's possible to select Jolla to be advertised as a server. I tested that, of course, and I was actually surprised that the Plex player on my BD was able to connect to the Plex Media Server on my Jolla. So, the server was recognized, but sharing Jolla's files seems to require sync option, and I haven't activated a Plex Pass to be able to use that. After enabling sync it would propably be possible to share files stored in Android environment (as Plex server is running under Android Support on Jolla).

Streaming video quality was absolutely great. I was able to strem 1080p videos over my WLAN network without any lagging. I did it just in testing purpose, streaming with this quality is useless as Jolla's screen resolution (540x960 px) has only a quarter of full HD quality (1080x1920 px)

Plex on Jolla - adjusting stremaing quality while watching the stream

Audio sync and quality were great too. For my first listening test I attached a DENON amplifier and a nice pair of Gradient speakers to Jolla's audio plug. I would have liked to test if Jolla would support any 5.1 audio stream too, but I was missing a suitable media for that. However, the stereo sound was absolutely fantastic.

Subtitles time sync isn't adjustable on Jolla's player, and as subtitle files are also transcoded when needed, it's pretty possible that some subtitles are in sync and some are not. My testing night ended to watching a movie in my bed with a nice pair of light Sennheiser headphones. In that one, subtitles were in sync too.

After watcing an 1h 30min movie, my Jolla had 25% less battery charge (screen brigtness at half). No lagging, no problems - everything seems to work as it should with Plex. I give this my full recommendation.

Tracfone Promo Codes for January 2014

New Tracfone Promo Codes January 2014

We have listed below new promo codes for all Tracfone minute cards that are valid through January 2014. 

Tracfone Promo Codes below!

Tracfone is a wireless prepaid cell phone company that provides low cost phones and minutes with no contract or other fees.

To add minutes to your phone, simply buy a refill card, and add it either online, or on your phone (or over the phone). When adding your minutes you can also use one of the promo codes below to get additional bonus minutes for free!

Here at TracfoneReviewer, we want to provide these codes to you as easily and simply as possible, free with nothing you need to click.

To make the Tracfone Promo Codes as easy as possibly to use, we make this post with just the codes that have been tested and are working in January 2014. If you want to see our full list of codes, with many more codes, visit our Tracfone Promo Codes page.

Do you like Tracfone but want a newer and better phone? Read our reviews of Tracfone's new Android smartphones. We have reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Centura, ZTE Valet, LG Optimus Dynamic, and Huawei Glory. Each of these phones runs Android OS, and comes with lots of great features. Unfortunately they don't work with the promo codes.

Now, let's get to the codes for January 2014!

Tracfone Promo Codes for January 2014

These codes have been tested and should work through the end of January 2014 unless otherwise noted.

60 minute card - get 30 bonus minutes with code 70166

120 minute card - also get 30 bonus minutes using code 71527

200 minute card - No new codes yet, but we will update when we get them. For now just use 71527 or 70166

400 minute/1 year card - get 200 extra minutes free with code 66271

450 minute card - grab 70 bonus minutes using promo code 72505

That's it, hope you can use these and get some free minutes! Leave a comment with which ones worked or didn't work for you.

We just published our 2014 list of the Top 5 Tracfone Cell Phones - you might want to see which phone takes the top spot!

Check out the latest news about Tracfone regarding bringing any CDMA phone to use with Tracfone prepaid service.

Also you might want to read our look back at what happened with Tracfone in 2013, and what 2014 might hold.

Thanks for visiting, and enjoy these codes in the new year!

Workaround: Jolla rotation and video format problems

Jolla phone - video formats

With Beta releases, it's sometimes just needed to do something yourself. This time, unless a fix is released, it has to do with the video recordings using Jolla's camera. There's a minor bug in rotation, turning some videos upside down (and some photos too), and there's another problem related to Jolla's less common video format h.263. Oh... and the recorded audio quality isn't great either (I hope the problem is just in the software)

Workaround for the rotation bug

When recording a landscape video, turn your Jolla anticlockwise (to the left).
This way the rotation angle will be 0. If you turn it right, the video will show upside down in your computer.

Workaround for the less supported video format

When sending videos to services like Youtube or Vimeo, the videos are automatically converted, and the file size & quality is reduced. No problem in here, if you're satisfied to the quality and the service.

Jolla records videos in format mp4v/h.263 (MPEG-4 Visual Simple@L6 to be exact). Not all players, and especially not the common web players are able to show this (you'll only hear the sound).

If you don't want to use 3rd party services, here's what you can do for the empty video frames and whining relatives: Convert your video to a better supported format. Here's a HowTo for mp4/avc1 format, which is well supported:

For converting a video, I used VLC Player. HowTo:

1. Save your video to any folder in your computer. You can transfer it via USB cable, Bluetooth or Email (attachment). Moving it via 3rd parties is not recommended, as it's usually converted in their desired way when uploaded, reducing the quality
2. Open VLC Player (link is to the official download site)
   Select from menu: Media -> Convert/Save...
3. Add... the video / videos you want to convert to the File selection list
4. Click Convert / Save
5. Browse Destination File. Select the Folder and write the name for the converted video, ending to text .mp4 (note the dot)
6. Select any profile from the dropdown menu, as it need to be edited anyway. I used Video - MPEG4 + AAC (mp4)
7. Edit your selected profile (click the tools icon)
8. For encapsulation, choose mp4
9. Video codec selections (this is what we convert)
   The selection boxes: Select "Video", unselect "Keep original video track"
   Codec: choose H.264
   Bitrate: 10 000 Kbit for max quality, 300-600 for web viewing purposes. This selection is the most important considering the file size and quality, and the processing time too. You could start with smaller values, and make another setting later if you're not satisfied with the outcome.
   Frame rate: 30fps for max quality, less to get smaller file size. At least 12 fps recommended.
   Scale 1 / Width 0 / Height 0 for original size, or change only one of the values for desired size.
10. For audio codec, select "Audio" and also select "Keep original audio track"
11. Save the settings (next time they will be ready in your selected profile)
12. Leave the checkboxes unselected, and start. Convertion takes a while, you can follow the advance from the bar at bottom. After it's ready, the player shows its stopped (no notifications)

You can find your converted video in the Folder you selected earlier. The original video is left unchanged. The format of the new video is mp4/avc1 (MPEG-4, Advanced Video Codec High@L4.0) which is recognized by most web players and html5. Html5 supported browsers are at least Mozilla Firefox (from v21), Internet Explorer, Google Chrome & Safari. Opera does not support mp4 - to gain visibility there, convert video also to ogg format.

Sharing videos in mp4/avc1 format is currently the best way considering most viewers, as both the web and most players in several devices/computers support viewing this format. As an example, here's a 7 second teddy clip not using iframe or Java/Flash. The format is simply supported by html5 programming language. You shouldn't see this with Opera browser, but with most others, yes: